Nostalgic sensation: A Memory about Green Train

Image © Bingjie Hu

I frequently consider myself a lucky girl. Why? As I own a memory of the green train. The green train is named for its dark green appearance. In China, it was one of the main means of transportation for people in 1980s. Later, due to the acceleration of trains, the emergence of high-speed vehicles such as bullet trains, high-speed trains and airplanes, and the increasingly obsolete condition of green trains, it gradually withdrew from the mainstream stage of transportation.

I felt like I am a person who is living in the past, do not want to wake up. I prefer every old thing and I enjoy the moment when old memories evoked. Green train, to some extent, gives me a feeling about the gone times. It evokes my memory of childhood. At that time, everything was slow, like the green train, slowly through my childhood.

Speaking of green train, people tend to connect it with instant noodle, heavy luggage, crowded people, tickets for standing room and so on. For me, what I remembered most about green train is listening to the classic old songs played by the radio and enjoying the charming scenery outside the window. All of my friends hate green train, they said, “gosh, green train just like a rubbish. It is cold in winter and hot in summer, crowded and especially the bad smell has the ability to kill a person”. What they do not know is that I am not disgusted with green train. Instead, I am delighted to take it as a transport to go back home. Though the environment of it is quite disappointing, its speed is slow, it has a lot of shortcomings, I still love it. It just like an old friend of mine, long time no see, I miss it too much.

Occasionally and luckily, I had a chance to meet green train again. It was on 5th January 2020, I took a trip to Guilin from Hunan. This was a complicated route and there was no high-speed trains in the route. When I was in trouble about how to go to Guilin, I found that there was a green train which could drive Hunan to Guilin. God, how lucky am I! I was even imagining how I spend my time on the green train. I was particularly excited and kept on taking pictures. In my eyes, everything became lovely and vivid. In the station, I watched the green train came slowly towards me. Kinda of nervous, I do no know why. It just like a mom gonna see her little baby who was adopted by others. I hoped she would be better than before, but simultaneously, I was afraid of she changed to someone I do not know. While I got on the train, I felt like relaxed, nothing has changed. Its speed is still slow and the background music still exists. In the train, it is terribly crowded, three people on two seats and four people on three seats. Over here, someone was gathering together to play cards. Over there, some old men were talking about the politics and economy. Kids were sleeping, and women were making small talk. At the end of the carriage, there always seemed to be four red letters on the lintel: “the toilet is occupied”. Train attendant pushed the snack car slowly in the crowded and narrow aisle calling out: “peanut, melon seed, water, beer, juice, and ham sausage”. I silently closed my eyes, what I heard are people’s whispers combined with hypnotic music. I felt like this was a time train, which brought me to the past time. I suddenly reminded a poetry by Mu Xin:

The nightfalls used to come late in the past,

Everything was slow, the bike, the horse, and the post.

Sitting opposite me is a couple, they seemed around 70 years old. They were enthusiastic about everything and looked like lived in a family full of love. They told me that they had been married for fifty years and that day was their anniversary. A worth celebrating golden wedding. I was so appreciated to hear that good news and sent them my best wishes. We had a pleasant conversation.

In my mind, I have a secret that I am sincerely love green train. It can not only take me back to the past, but also meet a variety of people. Although green train now represents the product of backwardness, it occupies an important place in my heart.